We are returning to the days we spent in the hospital after Jackson was born. We were at the hospital for 2 nights and 3 days. Heather’s comments are in italics. Most of these were sent to us in a letter from Heather 12 days after Jackson was born. Heather has given me permission to use them and has also been adding her comments and thoughts along the way. Make sure to check them out! Read More

Sorry I haven’t posted in a few days, we had Jackson’s 3rd birthday party last weekend and it took longer to “recover” than I had hoped! While I have been trying to keep this blog in chronological order to bring you all up to the current date, I feel compelled to share this moment with you all! Read More

If you haven’t seen Heather’s reflection to yesterday’s blog post, I have added it here. She adds another dimension to my love for 3’s, FAITH, HOPE & LOVE!!!

I’ve been reminiscing on all these wonderful memories while reading Jessica’s blog – laughing and crying as I read each post. After reading Part “3” on Jackson’s birth, the feelings of gratitude and clarity of our meaningful relationship just hit me like lightning. & it was SO needed (for me) – and powerful.
Here’s why: Read More

Heather wanted a picture to show our 3 hands on Jackson to symbolize our love and protection for Jackson.

I do not believe in irony, I believe in the hands of God. So part 3 is brought to you 3 days before Jackson’s 3rd birthday. As I write this I am having a hard time believing our little baby is THREE already. This is the last post in a 3 part series on the day Jackson was born. Heather’s comments are in italics. Most of these were sent to us in a letter from Heather 12 days after Jackson was born. Heather has given me permission to use them and will also write more current posts as we navigate through this process together. Read More

We continue our journey through the day Jackson was born. If you haven’t, go back and read part one where we share the first part of the day with you all. Heather’s comments are in italics. Most of these were sent to us in a letter from Heather 12 days after Jackson was born. Heather has given me permission to use them and will also write more current posts as we navigate through this process together. Read More

I woke up to these words several years before Jackson was even a thought in our mind. “The best is still ahead.” And boy was he right. Heather and I will address the birth of our son, Jackson together over the next several posts. Heather’s comments will be in italics. Most of these were sent to us in a letter from Heather 12 days after Jackson was born. Heather has given me permission to use them and will also write more current posts as we navigate through this process together. Read More

Before I get into Jackson’s birth story, I want to reach out to those who are hurting. I spent a lot of time questioning God, being mad at God, wondering when it was going to be “my turn” to have a child and just waiting for life to begin without realizing life had already begun. JJ and I have an incredible marriage but that didn’t come without its’ struggles and hurts along the way. I will share with you a few things that were incredibly helpful for me to hear, I just didn’t know I needed to hear them at the time or I didn’t want to hear them at the time. Read More

(Update– please read my mom’s comment below to get her perspective on the meeting!)

Our thought process was that both of our parents were going to be at the hospital and Heather’s family was going to be there too when the baby was born. We didn’t know how her family felt about it, we knew they were supportive of her decision to place her child with us, we just didn’t know how they were going to be feeling emotionally with it all, when we walked out of the hospital with the baby and Heather did not. We wanted to be sympathetic to those feelings. Read More

We were meeting Heather and our social worker at Olive Garden. Let me explain something, when most people are nervous they can NOT eat. I on the other hand, can eat a whole elephant if you let me!!! So, while we were trying to get to know each other, all I could do was stuff my face with delicious food!!! Oh man, looking back we all have a good laugh about it now! Our social worker led some of the conversation and we all asked each other questions, trying to get to know each other a little more. Our social worker left and the three of us (3—see where I am going with this!!) stayed. Read More

Let’s get to the good stuff already. We had plenty of false alarms along the way, and a few “situations” we turned down as we didn’t feel adequate enough or enough awareness to raise a child being born addicted to this drug or that drug. We finally got “the call” on March 19, 2014. We had received an e-mail a few days before from our social worker about a situation with a birth mom in Madison and also another one that had inquired about us. So when I got the call (while at work) on March 19th, I remember asking “should I be sitting down?” And then she said, “Yes, knowing you, you probably should sit down.” Read More

I was mad, I was mad at God, I was mad at my life, I was mad at myself, I was all around mad. So I turned that madness into fitness. I started doing a couch to 5k program with a really good friend of mine and that is when fitness sort of started to take over my life instead. I am currently training for my first full marathon. I have run several (well like 30-5k’s, a few 8k’s, a few 7k’s 5-10k’s and two half-marathons but who is counting). I might have taken it a little over board but I love the way I feel. I also am a beachbody coach-more on that too! (I am contemplating starting a blog about my fitness journey). We will see. But for now, let’s focus on how we got to be a party of 3. Read More